The spotting and positioning of a football on the field of play during a game is undertaken by a plurality of official personnel and often requires the exercise of considerable judgment and approximation. Typically, a pair of chainmen positioned on the sidelines of a football field each hold a pole or xe2x80x9cmarkerxe2x80x9d that is connected to the other marker at its bottom by a 30 foot (10 yard) chain, that being the length required for a first down in the game.
One chainman marks the spot of the ball (on the sidelines) where the offensive team begins on first down and the second chainman extends the chain its full length down the sideline and holds the second pole upright to signal to the offensive team the point to which they must advance the ball to achieve a new set of downs (a first down).
Often, a third chainman is utilized to hold upright a ball marker that is indicative of the position of the ball at the initiation of each successive down. This official relies on a line of sight view to the ball position on the field to judge where to place the marker pole on the sideline.
One difficulty with the present system of first down measurement arises when the offensive team advances the ball to a position on the field that is so close to being exactly ten yards from the initial spot of the ball on first down that the officials cannot determine whether a first down has been achieved by simply looking at the sideline markers. In such a case, the chainmen, with the assistance of the on-the-field officials, bring the chain and markers on to the field of play to make an accurate first down determination. Thusly has football become known as a xe2x80x9cgame of inchesxe2x80x9d.
However, in modern times using chains to make first down measurements unnecessarily slows the pace of the game while the chain officials run on and off the field. This disadvantage is particularly acute at the collegiate and professional levels where games are often televised and broadcast time is at a premium. Furthermore, the chain and marker measurement method requires officials to make judgments on the spot of the ball and is susceptible to human error.
The instant invention solves the aforementioned problems by providing a system and method of determining the precise location of a football on a playing field for determination of whether a first down has been achieved that utilizes modern opti-electronic equipment to allow the on-the-field officials to quickly and accurately spot and measure ball position.
The invention employs an optical distance measuring device of the type often employed by surveyors to measure the exact location of a football on the field of play. The measurement is taken with respect to a reference point, for example the mid-field line (50 yard line), at which the measuring device may be located. A handheld portable digital display device carried by an on-field official is capable of wireless communication with the optical distance measuring device and is used to initiate a measurement as well as display the results thereof to the official.
A reflector is positioned at the nose of the football to reflect a light pulse emanating from the distance measuring device back thereto. The distance measuring device is equipped with a micro-controller and an operator interface and display and is suitably programmed to calculate the position of the target reflector on the field, either in polar or Cartesian coordinates. The official on the field sets the reflector at the nose of the ball and initiates the measurement using the operator interface.
Given the initial measurement, the official can request the distance measurement device to measure the exact position of the ball at a second location. The distance measurement device thence sends the position data to the portable display whereupon it is converted to suitable Cartesian coordinates, if necessary, and a first down determination is made and displayed on the portable display. This information is then displayed to the on-the-field official. Since there is no need for a chain crew to run on and off the field, the instant invention can measure first down yardage in a few seconds.
Accordingly, it is one object of the instant invention to provide a time-saving method of measuring a first down in the game of football.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a hand-held device to an on-field official for the initiation of first down measurements.
It is another object of the invention to provide an accurate method of determining whether a first down is made in a game of football.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.